Economic Growth, International Technological Spillovers and Public Policy: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Asia

This paper examines, within the new growth theory framework, the contribution of international technological spillovers using panel data for eleven Asian countries over the period 1970-93. A country's productivity growth is shown to depend not only on its domestic R&D investment but also on the R&D investment of its trading partners. The evidence for such positive international technological spillovers is strong. This paper also shows that the beneficial effects of international technological spillovers on productivity growth are stronger in South East Asian countries than that of of South Asian countries.Economic Growth, Technology Spillovers, Asia

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND GROWTH: AN OVERVIEW FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE NEW GROWTH THEORY

The role of international trade in the new growth theory is investigated from several perspectives. Following a historical outline and a brief analytical sketch of the R&D based models, the results from fitting three structural models to data are presented. Results show the relative impacts on growth from trade and R&D based policies including technological spillovers from trade. The mechanism of inter-sectoral adjustments to the long-run growth path are also discussed. Results from selected econometric studies are reviewed. With emphasis on agriculture, this includes evidence of technological spillovers from trade, the effect of R&D expenditures on growth in total factor productivity, and the extent to which the stock of technological knowledge is accessible by others.Endogenous Growth, Trade, Technological Spillovers, International Relations/Trade,

"The Role of International Technological Spillovers in the Economic Growth of the OECD Countries "

This paper explores the role of imports as a mechanism of transmission of international technological spillovers and the significance of these for the growth and economic convergence of the OECD countries. For this purpose a growth model is estimated that includes amongst its determinants a measure of the stock of technological knowledge. The results reveal first that international technological spillovers transmitted through imports have had a favourable influence on the economic growth of the OECD countries, Secondly, they suggest that the capacity of countries to take advantage of those spillovers depend on their own human and R&D capital endowments..

Technological spillovers and industrial location in Spain

While different studies have supported the existence of knowledge spillovers and shown their importance for economic growth, very few have focused on analysing their relation with the propensity for industrial activity to cluster spatially. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the geographic concentration of industrial activity in Spain, specially of innovative activity, and to link it with the existence of knowledge externalities. This analysis will be based in the marshallian concept of external economies. As Marshall argues, there may be gegraphic limitations to information flows or knowledge spillovers among the firms in an industry. Firstly, this paper will present the spatial distribution of industrial and innovative activities in Spain and then it will attempt to examine if knowledege spillovers play a role in this distribution. Keywords: technological spillovers, industrial location, R+D Theme of session: i)Technology, innovation and space Theme of session: i) Technology, innovation and space.

Does the selection process of firms favour economic efficiency growth?

The paper examines the impact of firms exit on the long-term efficiency growth. It is argued that, contrary to the generally established effect in the literature of industrial organisation, the natural selection process hinders economic efficiency growth. Indeed exit of firms causes losses of knowledge and therefore have a negative effect on efficiency. Furthermore, if one takes account of technological spillovers, the exit of firms reduces efficiency by limiting the number of active firms and, thus, the aggregate stock of knowledge. Our model also shows that individual efforts of R&D allow increasing the levels of firms' efficiency. Such efficiency gains are in addition amplified by the technological spillovers.

Does R&D Cooperation Facilitate Price Collusion? An Experiment

In the paper the impact of R&D cooperation on prices in experimental duopoly markets is examined.As a theoretical benchmark for the experiment, a two-stage duopoly model with an R&D stage with technological spillovers and a pricing stage is used.For two scenarios of technological spillovers (no versus complete spillovers), a treat-ment where it is possible to credibly commit to an R&D contract and a baseline treatment without binding contract possibilities, are run.Findings are that, in general, prices are between the subgame perfect Nash and the cooperative level.Further, for both spillover levels prices are higher in periods where R&D contracts are committed to, than in other periods, and to a lesser extent compared to the baseline treatments.R&D;cooperation;duopoly;prices;spillovers

International R&D Spillovers and Productivity Growth in the Agricultural Sector A Panel Cointegration Approach

This paper analyses, within the new growth theory framework and using panel cointegration techniques, the effect of agricultural international technological spillovers on total factor productivity growth for a sample of 47 countries during the period 1970-1992. The analysis shows that total factor productivity is strongly influenced by domestic as well as foreign public R&D spending in agricultural sector and geographical factors matters. Countries located in temperate zones benefit more than countries located in tropical zones from technological spillovers. Finally, the analysis shows that the rate of return to agricultural R&D spending is higher in tropical countries and this could justify new support and an even greater investment of funds for agricultural R&D for these countries.Technology spillover, agricultural productivity, panel cointegration, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C14, O30, Q16,

Technological Spillovers and Productivity in Italian Manufacturing Firms

We study whether a firm’s total factor productivity dynamics is positively influenced by its own R&D activity and by the technological spillovers generated at the intra- and inter-sectorial level. Our approach corrects simultaneously for the endogeneity and the selectivity biases introduced by the use of a firm’s own R&D as a regressor. A firm’s involvement in R&D activities accounts for significant productivity gains. Firms also benefit from spillovers originating from their own industries, as well as from innovative upstream sectors.R&D, TFP, selectivity, treatment effect

Technological Spillovers and Productivity in Italian Manufacturing Firms

We study whether a firm’s total factor productivity dynamics is positively influenced by its own R&D activity and by the technological spillovers generated at the intra- and inter-sectorial level. Our approach corrects simultaneously for the endogeneity and the selectivity biases introduced by the use of a firm’s own R&D as a regressor. A firm’s involvement in R&D activities accounts for significant productivity gains. Firms also benefit from spillovers originating from their own industries, as well as from innovative upstream sectors.R&D, TFP, selectivity, treatment effect

Innovations and Technological Spillovers

In this paper we analyze the evidence from a large number of studies on three specific questions pertaining to R&D investment: (1) Are there diminishing returns to inventive activities? (2) What is the relationship between R&D and productivity and what are the magnitudes of the returns to a firm's or industry's R&D investment? (3) What are the magnitudes of the benefits from R&D undertaken by other firms, industries and countries and the vehicles by which they are transmitted to the recipients? The evidence on the first issue is still controversial, basically because of the lack of an adequate measure of output and precise measurement of the inputs to the inventive process. Patent counts are often considered as a measure of output while expenditures on R&D are used as a measure of input in this process. If proper adjustments are made and the significant spillover effects of R&D documented in this paper are taken into account, the possibility of diminishing returns to inventive activities seems implausible. On the second question, the results clearly suggest a positive and strong relationship between R&D expenditures and growth of output or total factor productivity. The relation is pervasive, though the magnitudes of the contribution of R&D vary among firms, industries and countries. On the average, net rates of return on own R&D are about 20% to 30%. There is no clear cut evidence of decline in the potency of R&D investment in the late 1970s. However, there is evidence that R&D as a factor of production affects not only productivity growth but also the demand for conventional inputs and is influenced by changes in input prices and the level of demand. The evidence points to sizable R&D spillover effects both at the firm and industry levels; the social rates of return of R&D often vary from 20% to over 100% in various industry, with an average somewhere close to 50%. The channels of diffusion of the spillovers vary considerably and their effects on productivity growth are sizable. These results suggest a substantial underinvestment in R&D activities. International technology trade among the OECD countries has increased substantially in recent years. The diffusion of new technologies has been very rapid; the channels of transmissions have been exports, foreign direct investment, and multinational enterprises' research operations, the latter being the most dynamic agents of technology transfer. With the further globalization of business activities, international technology transfers will be a major source of new R&D spillovers.